After months of low key nagging we suddenly have a date for our family vacation.  We leave in 6 days.  All of sudden summer is over in a rush of preparation and travel.  Between now and Monday, the following must occur. 

• Grocery shopping.
• My yearly gynnie appointment that due to my complications takes 1/2 a day. Following this I will need to  . . .
• Pick up prescriptions.
• Laundry.
• A trip to the Boy Scout Council Store for updated uniform bits.
• Buy stamps, sunscreen and a half dozen other random items.
• 2 days of cub scout camp.
• 1 day of office wrangling to be ready to hit the ground running when we return.
• At least one visit to my grandmother who is in rehab care. (Two would be better.)
• Make hotel reservations.
• Pack for S and J’s scout camp trip.
• Pack for the whole family’s vacation
• Get the car to the garage for an oil change and to find out what the hissing sound is when the vent fan is turned off.
• Help J mow lawn.
• Arrange for someone to feed the cats.
• Water the house plants and the garden.
• See if my Mom can watch S during Aug. while I prep the Fall courses.

The schedule is kind of nuts.  J plans to leave at 7AM Monday after coming home from Scout Camp on Sunday afternoon.  We will drive 4 1/2 hours to a water park in VA, GO TO the water park that day and spend the night in the area.  Yikes!  I can see the meltdown already, and not just S, all of us.  When we get home from this hastily planned vacation we will leave again in four days for a three day camping trip with friends. A week and a half is all I have to spiff up my courses and design scenery for the first show. After that I start having scheduled activities on campus for the start of the Fall semester, another half week and 2nd grade starts for S.  Oh man, I’m tried just thinking about it all.

I have been so inactive for about a year and a half because I have walked away from almost all the work offered to me in the hopes that I would be caring for a baby girl.  That did not happen.  At first, it was torture, being idle was really hard for me.  It was about nine months before I started to adjust to my new (lack of) schedule.  Now, I’m so laid back I would describe myself as lazy.  It looks like that all ends tonight.  

I am fortunate though.  All the people who have offered me work in the past are still offering. This kind of lull in employment should’ve been career damaging.  But it wasn’t.  Two schools have basically given me the pick of their seasons and a more classes to teach than I can actually physically handle.  It will be easy to dive into all this work and never look back, or at least pretend I’m not looking.  I really do enjoy teaching; it is the only thing I’ve found that rivals parenting in the potential for satisfaction.   The next 40 days will fly by and then I will be up to my eyes in courses and shows and plans for two student trips and preparation for our new building and harvesting the garden and getting S off on the right foot in 2nd grade and J’s stepsister’s wedding and and and . . . . . I may drown.

I have not done the research on Taiwan; I don’t know if I am still actually holding onto hope for Vietnam or if I just want to have some time where I don’t feel like I’m teetering on the edge of bliss and disaster all the time.  There are days when I think it would be OK to have just S.  (Like yesterday when he entertained me by improvising an entire cable system of TV shows centered around slugs to my too loud protests of “GROSS” and “STOP” and my pantomime of a remote control.)  But, when I think about doing something, anything with the baby’s room, I am paralyzed.  The door is shut, I don’t go in there, I don’t look in there.  When I have to deal directly with the possibility of there not being a baby girl E ( yes, I have had a name picked out for about 5 years) I can’t do it.

So, all of a sudden we are down to 40 days.  I read on the DOS web site that they expect to have referrals for about half of the 1,700 pending dossiers prior to the Sept. 1st deadline. It all seems like such blatant fiction.  If they can do that why don’t we have a referral already?  Our dossier has been circulating orphanages since late January, nearly 6 months. How is it they expect to complete 850 referrals in little more than a month when some have been in the system for such a long time already?  

Maybe it will all happen very suddenly.

It was kind of an odd weekend for us.  We were busy enough to forget about waiting for awhile, but no big stuff to report.

Friday we set off for a memorial service for my uncle in Niagara Falls.  Our hotel of choice was full and so we settled for another place.  It turned out not to be a very good choice, the room was musty smelling, not very clean and in need of an over haul.  We had a ground floor room with a large patio door, so I opened the door to try to air out the room.  The door was so old I could barley move it and had no screen.  So, I struggled to close it once the mosquitos started coming in.

We found the church the next morning without any trouble.  My family is quite large and S was shocked to find that he had so many (second) cousins and that they were adults.  Cousins are supposed to be kids.  The service was really nice, my uncle’s oldest son brought his entire folk music group from his church in Rochester to play for the service.  They were really good and added a lot to the service.  Afterwards there was a breakfast served at a nearby banquet room.  We didn’t know about the meal until it was announced at the end of the service.  Since we knew we wouldn’t make it up to the family reunion this August, we decided to alter our plans to spend the afternoon as tourists and go to the breakfast.

This was also very well done, lots of decent food, a display table, and an open mike.  Many people made short speeches, told great stories or sang.  A portion of my family is quite musical though none are professional they are reasonably accomplished.  After the meal there was a lot of small talk and catching up.  S amused my cousins by reading aloud from his Captain Underpants book, and serving everyone from a small tin of candy I had in my purse.

One of my confirmed bachelor cousins tried to engage S (remember S is 6 years old.)  in conversation about girls.  My husband reported to me later that the conversation went something like this:

CB: So, S you got any girlfriends?

S: No

CB: Why not, you gotta get your self a girl, and it’s real important that she is pretty, really pretty.

S: No, I’d rather just eat a lot of food.  (Sounding like the character “Chowder” from Cartoon Network)

CB: Well you know, girls can be a lot of fun to eat too!

S: Gave him an odd look and walked away.

My husband said he was so flabbergasted he just had no clue how to respond.  I told him that was probably the best thing.  If he had said something or made a big deal about it we would be more likely to have to explain the remark later.  However, we did enjoy actual conversation with many of my other cousins who have more developed senses of what to talk about with whom.

The breakfast did wrap up early enough for us to get to Niagara Falls for some fun.  S was quite excited because we planned to visit the Canadian side which meant he was going to another country.  J and I were a bit nervous as this would be the first time we would take S out of the country and use his new passport.  As silly as it sounds we both had a lurking fear that we would be pulled for background checks because of the obvious lack of family resemblance.  Our fears were unfounded and we crossed without any fuss at all.

S was somewhat impressed with the falls.  More so when we pointed out the size of the people on the Maid of the Mist compared to the falls.  My plan was to go on the Maid of the Mist.  I had grown up less than an hour away and never had the chance to do it myself.  I was hoping for a memorable family experience.  S would have nothing to do with it though.  As we drove into town he spotted a store called Candy Planet and it was at the top of his list.  

We spent the rest of the afternoon exploring Clifton Hill.  There is a lot to do on that short street most of it really fun.  S spotted a place called Brick City.  We paid a surprising $23 for the three of us to get in even with our $1 off ea. coupon.  This was the only thing we did that was not worth it.  Avoid this place unless you have a kid who is Lego obsessed.  And, ask if the prices are not posted.  The only rates posted here were a discounted rate to visit a group of several attractions.  

We had an early dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  We were able to get a table without waiting but because of where we were (a street intended for the collection of tourist $$) we did not have high expectations.  Despite our surroundings we were pretty pleased with the place over all.  It is a family place, lots of distractions for the little ones, sensory overload manifested in restaurant form.  Despite the animated gorillas, elephants and boa constrictors, 5′-6″ tree frog walking around and the “Rain Storms” every 20 min. my husband heard a patron behind him remark that “all the kids running around here ruin the ambience”.  Apparently the pictures to color on her menu were overlooked, otherwise she would’ve known.

The service was good, the food came quickly, and was prepared well.  The prices were not even overly steep considering this is one of the most touristy spots in the world.  What more could person expect?  Oh yeah, quiet children who sit still.

After that we drove home, sometimes through heavy rain.  So we got home late, tired from the hour and the wet drive.  Sunday was quiet.  I caught up on email, visited grandma in the hospital and made chicken tacos for dinner.  Saturday saw us though enough activity for two weekends, thank goodness it was a quiet day.  As I fell asleep on Sunday night I thought as I have thought for the last year of Sunday nights, “Maybe this week.”

A question I have been waiting to hear.  Until yesterday I only had a vague idea about what I would say.  Then I read this post. The Truth as You Know It

Ok, good, thank-you, I won’t make that mistake. BUT, what DO I say? The next post on my Blog Surfer was this, NO LIE!    Thank You

“Because I wanted her to be safe.”  That simple phrase is so full of truth, and the love that ALL parents have for our children.  We all spend so much energy and worry about their safety each waking moment.  This is the truth as I know it.  Is this the whole answer?  No.  But it is the core, the seed from which logic springs in a world that frequently defies logic.

Thank-you to both of these women for sharing with all of us.  It is so hard to work through these issues alone.  The advice and experiences of others are so valuable to me.  

BTW, I received word from our agency that one family has permission to travel.  The first one in a year.  I pray they are safe as they travel.  Today on Tin Que Huong two posts about Vietnam.  One about a Dengue fever outbreak.  The other about a US human rights group pleading with Vietnam to not interfere with the funeral of a prominent (dissident) religious leader.  What mother wouldn’t worry?

We normally lay low on the fourth.  BBQ at home, a camp fire and s’mores in the backyard.  We don’t even leave home for fireworks since we can see so many from our yard.  This year was different.

We decided to go into Pittsburgh to see the big fireworks there.

Pittsburgh Fireworks

(Photo by David Watson) Some Rights Reserved

Normally we would not attempt this sort of thing.  Traffic, parking garages, crowds of people ingesting God knows what and, worst of all, endless waiting with a small child.  But, we had a plan!  The Carnegie Science Center offered a 4th of July Sleep Over Event.  This was really too cool not to try.  Basically the idea is you get to camp out over night in the Science Center and have the run of the place when quiet hours were not in effect.   It was a long fun night.  

First we were treated to a demonstration that explained a lot about fireworks and how the various colors are made.  We then got to see a laser show in the planetarium.  We selected the” 80’s at EIght” show, figuring that Led Zeppelin or Pink Floyd would be too much for 6 year old S.  Next was prime seating and a snack for the fireworks.  Our view was very much like the photo above. Best of all we didn’t have to save our place for hours in advance.  We were in the museum playing while the squatters had to entertain themselves out in the rain.  After the fireworks we had admission to an IMAX movie “The Alps”.  Poor S was so tired at this point he asked if he could go to bed, and we did. Others still had energy to play or see the later laser shows.  In the morning a modest continental breakfast was served followed by a traditional planetarium show.  At 10:00 we could have gone over to the Sports Works complex to enjoy that part of the museum but we were just too pooped.  We could have stayed all day at the museum if we wanted, it was included as part of the package.  BTW, free parking as well!

As great as the sleep over was, the fireworks really were the highlight of the night.  Our view was fabulous and the beauty of the location really couldn’t be beat.  The three rivers reflected the light of the fireworks as did PPG Place.  My work and travels have allowed me to see a lot of different fire works shows and this one was certainly one of the best I have ever seen.

I’m really glad we shook things up and did something new this year.  And, I bet we will do this again sometime, except we will have to get a better air mattress.  Sleeping was a bit of an adventure all by it’s self.  

We brought an air bed with us and upon reflection I guess it was (yes, was) about 6-7 years old.  I had suspected there might be a leak in it because it was pretty limp after my BFF’s son had slept on it when they were our guests for our 20th anniversary party.  So I got it out of storage and blew it up a few days early to check on it.  S and the Sandwiched’s girls had even bounced around on it and it held it’s air.  So I assumed all was fine.  

When we all bedded down after the movie S was out pretty quick.  This was a later than normal late night for him.  He looked so snug and comfortable.  Actually we all were.  We had elected to all sleep crosswise on the bed and it seemed pretty roomy.  The exhibit hall had become surprisingly quiet and all the clues said we would get a reasonable night’s rest.   We even had a cool view of downtown from our chosen spot.  

However, before very long it was clear that we were sinking.  There was not anything to be done except to lay still and wait for the inevitable, like polar explorers caught in a storm.  By 1:30 AM the trunk of my body was touching the floor and several of my  extremities had entered a tingly sleep.  I attempted to adjust my body so that it could assume a normal sleep instead of the numbing one for which  I was headed.   Just then, the combined forces of gravity and the magnetism that a sleeping child has for his mother conspired to suck my son into the small space under my body.  I was pinned!  Unable to lie back down again I elected to go to the ladies room.  Upon my return I found that my 1/3 of the queen size mattress was now inhabited completely by S.  Worse yet, his 50 lb. frame some how managed to take up his 1/3 as well.  OK, well, I’ll sleep on the floor.  It’s carpeted, how bad can it be?

I cannot describe to you how hard this floor seemed when I lay upon it.  Instantly I was longing for the luxurious cushion of 2 mm of flocked vinyl provided by our slowly deflating air mattress.  It felt as if the floor was actually pushing up into me and that some how the Earth’s mass had suddenly increased; gravity multiplying in response.  Clearly the carpet beneath me was some sort of clever illusion because if it was actually present there is no way I could have been that uncomfortable.

S L O W L Y, my body adjusted and I did eventually fall asleep.  How I will never know.  Perhaps the day was just so good my body didn’t care!

J and I traded naps when we got home; the air mattress never made it back into the house.  It went from the van directly to the trash.

OK, I give up.  I give up on hoping that the MOU will be extended or that there will be grandfathering of dossiers.  I am comfortable with that. 

Time to move on.  

Sunday we went to the zoo and had a really nice time.  It was one of those days when we had nothing planned and it was too wet to work in the yard.  So after checking the radar to make sure there was a few hours where is was actually not going to rain we set off.  We go to the zoo pretty often, probably 6 times a year.  Our membership is a good investment and always provides really nice, cheap, impromptu outings.   We throw a lunch together and hop in the car and go.

It was not overly busy for a Sunday, nor too hot.  The threat of rain kept the crowds at home.  We fell into our zoo routine pretty readily, and now part of the entertainment is picking out the differences from our last trip.  Three new beaver babies, a fresh paint job in the primate house, a new walk way to the african dogs over-look, that sort of thing.  We were disappointed that the elephant moms had not delivered yet, a bit over due.

We had lunch in the food court area, our usual spot.  We lingered a bit after lunch and my mind was wandering.  I have been dieting and I was feeling pretty good about our nice heathy packed lunch, and how I’d been able to keep under 1500 calories a day for more than a week.  But, also frustrated because despite that I’d gained a pound over the same week.  Just as I was thinking, “Wow, I’m not even hungry.” a really tempting ice cream cone entered my line of vision.  Creamy chocolate soft serve in one of those hand make waffle cones.  Ugh!  Now I’m hungry.  I turned my head to avoid the ice cream only for my eyes to land spot-on a mother and her newborn.  Double Ugh!  I closed my eyes.     . . . . day ruined?  No, just made me think. It will be like this my whole life.  If I keep up my diet at least I will be rewarded with good health and the energy to care for my family.  If I keep myself from children I will have a hole in my heart my entire life.

When we got home I spent some time surfin’ the net.

•  Korea, no.  We are too old for an infant.  (Too old?  I don’t feel too old.  That stung!) 
•  Hong Kong, special needs only, and the fact that we are not ethnically Chinese won’t win us any favors.  
• China, long list of requirements, but possible.  I hate that I would provide a justification for a mother or family to give up a child just because it is a girl.
• Taiwan, possible, but we would have to act fast as we are getting close to being too old but waits are much shorter than China.  Boys and girls . . . And, hey, there is an agency in our area, sort of.  About an hour away.

  This has possibilities.

A bit of news.  Scroll to the bottom, third to last paragraph.  Not what many were hoping to hear, but at least it came up in conversation.

When I wrote in my last post :

 Stay tuned to find out the fate of Penelope Pineapple.  Will it be the grill, the blender, or something more sinister?! 

I didn’t actually intend to blog about the pineapple in my refrigerator.  BUT, dinner tonight was so good that I just have to share!  Not only was it really good, I didn’t ruin my calorie count eating it.  Sorry, it was not the grilled desert (but here is the link to my favorite gilled pineapple/desert), not the blender, it was the chopping block!  (Insert evil laughter here.)  

Grilled Tuna with Pineapple and Rice

This recipe fed my family of three with a lot of left-overs.  (Yum, I can’t wait for lunch tomorrow!)

First the tuna (2-6 oz. Steaks).  I marinated it for about 30 min. in the following ingredients.  A zip bag with the excess air pushed out works really well.  With the bag you don’t need to make a huge amount of marinade to cover the steaks.

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1 TBS Soy Sauce
• 2 TBS Lemon Juice
• 2 Cloves Garlic smashed
• 2 Tsp Grated Ginger Root

While the tuna marinated in the fridge, I started the rice cooking.  (Mini Rant:  DO NOT USE INSTANT RICE!  If you are bothering to cook real food, cook some real rice while you are at it!)  I used 2 cups (rice cooker size) of Jasmine rice (my fav!) and used a can of low sodium/fat chicken stock and added water for the rest of the liquid.  (Using low sodium/fat stock lets you control the amount of these ingredients in your food.  You can always add more if you want it.  It is not a diet thing, just a good cooking habit thing.)  I also tossed some minced onion (1/2 small), and ginger root (1 TBS) in with the rice.

While the rice was cooking and the tuna marinated, I chopped up the following:

• 1/4 Pineapple in 1″ chunks
• 1 Orange in 1/2 ” chunks
• 2 TBS Fresh Cilantro 
• 2 TBS Fresh Parsley
• 2 TBS Fresh Chives

By now your rice is well under way and you can grill the Tuna.  4 min. each side over high heat.  (The grill must be preheated.)  When rice and tuna are done, chop the tuna into bite size chunks.  Toss tuna, rice, fruit, and herbs together and add:

• Juice of 1/2 Lime
• 2 Tsp Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper

And toss again.

Serve with Soy Sauce or Nuoc Mam on the side.  I prefer Nuoc Mam myself, nothing like the salty sweetness to go with the ginger and pineapple!  What is Nuoc Mam?  Vietnam’s all purpose condiment made from anchovy extract, salt and sugar.  One of those things that is WAY better than the sum of it’s ingredients.

And now the Mom’s are out there saying, “Grilled Tuna!  My kids/husband will never eat that!”  But they will. Really.  My son has remarked that last two times I have served tuna “Mom, how come tuna tastes like chicken?”  I don’t know the answer to that (in part because it doesn’t taste like chicken to me), but I do know he eats the tuna with less complaint than chicken!

So, there it is; the first post about the pineapple in my fridge.  Tune in tomorrow when our villain will say, “Smoothies anyone?”

I never set out to write an adoption blog.  It was just supposed to be a place to write down my thoughts and rant a bit when work was getting to me.  Stats show that readers that check in here are looking for adoption news, or for an Easy Salmon Glaze.  Adoptions are far more dramatic reading, so guess which get the most hits?  

What I’ve learned about myself so far is that adoption is on my mind far more than I would like to admit.  I’ve made a habit of pretending that I’m all cool, calm and patient.  I’ve even fooled myself at times.  My ASP thinks I’m some sort of saint.  I told her that I’m really just putting on a face for the public, she then informed me that I’m not giving myself enough credit.  Maybe it’s true, the secretary told me everyone who calls about international adoptions right now is either crying or screaming.

I just wrapped up the last bit of home study #6 this morning.  So, all there is to do now is wait.  There will be little to blog about adoption wise the next two months unless there is news about the MOU extension or we actually get a referral.  My doubts are huge.  The gossip I got from the agency secretary leads me to believe that renewing our home study was a waste of money and time.  I can’t even vent about it here because it would identify my agency beyond any doubt and would probably lead to legal issues.  

What to do next?  Maybe nothing.  This process has a taken a toll on both J and I.  It’s not the waiting alone.  There have been so many times when it looked like we were Ok, and then there would be new regulations, or nothing would happen when we were told it would.  My hopes have been rudely dashed more times than I can count.  Somehow I just put on the happy mask and move on.  My mask is wearing out though.

China?  I don’t think so.  The reasons we picked Vietnam over China are still the same and still keep me away.  And, now with China’s new regulations we are not even eligible anyway.  (Update, turns out we would be eligible, the BMI index cut off is 40 and over.  I am overweight, but not that much.)   If we were to go to another Asian country we would need to switch agencies and start again.  I know there will never be an ideal situation, I need to figure out what compromises I’m willing to make.  Maybe I need to take a break?  I have a pineapple in the fridge that would make a great desert if grilled.

 Hmmm . . . Stay tuned to find out the fate of Penelope Pineapple.  Will it be the grill, the blender, or something more sinister?!

(Dramatic enough for you?)

76 days and counting down.  That is the time left until the MOU expires and I will be infertile again.

Our first child did not come easily.  After years of infertility, IVF and failed domestic adoptions, adoption from Vietnam was such a joy.  So easy compared to all we had been through.  I was overjoyed that I had found the way to build our family.  I could have all the children I wanted.  Now, I feel like I am facing infertility all over again.  I once feared the biological clock, now I fear the calendar.  September 1st looms before me like a death sentence for my yet to be child.  A child we have waited for, planned for . . .

An extra coat hook and basket in the entry, a fourth towel for the family of three, boxes of unisex baby clothing packed away from my first, for my second.  A crib in the attic.  A spare room that was not meant to be spare.

I know I have to start moving on, but how?  I don’t feel like I have any fight left in me, logic tells me to grieve, begin letting go.  But there are still 76 days left.  Enough time for a miracle. 

Courtesy the blog stats provided by word press it seems that there are some other Vietnam waiting parents stopping into my blog on a some-what regular basis.  So, after reading what Tad has been saying at Adoption Buzz about how there is a lot of information out there we just have to share and organize it, I thought I would share this.

First a disclaimer: PLEASE remember what is written here applies to one adoption service provider, mine.  Even if you know you are using my provider, check with them.  You should know that every province and each orphanage has different procedures, regulations and so on.  DO NOT THINK THAT THIS WILL APPLY TO YOU.

Last week we got a contract addendum from our provider.   It got me thinking about the new things in the process, specifically where do DNA testing and I-600 fit into the process. Things I once understood now seemed as clear as mud.  I sent these questions to our adoption service provider.

 

. . .  the things that are not clear to me is how the process works when we get a referral now that the I-600 and DNA testing are a part of the process.  

1. For instance, IF DNA testing is required, do we accept the referral and then do the the testing, or can we wait  for the DNA test results and then accept?  It would make no sense to me (but who am I) to accept a referral before the child has been proven to be an orphan.

2. AND, at what point in the the process are the Foreign Fees Due?  Before or after the I-600 approval?  If we pay those fees before and approval is NOT gained, and the program is now closed because the MOU has expired, are the fees lost even though the child was not available.  

The refund policy of the contract states the funds MIGHT be transferable to another child from that same country.  But if the program has closed what happens; lost fees?